{"id":747670,"date":"2026-05-30T05:39:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T05:39:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/747670\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T05:39:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T05:39:20","slug":"libertys-jonquel-jones-play-style-has-roots-in-beloved-pistons-team-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/747670\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberty\u2019s Jonquel Jones\u2019 play style has roots in beloved Pistons team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jonquel Jones<\/a> grew up a fan of the Detroit Pistons<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Their success during the early 2000s, known as the franchise\u2019s \u201cGoin\u2019 to Work\u201d era, inspired a young Jones.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve got you covered on the Liberty beat <\/p>\n

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The Pistons, anchored by Chauncey Billups<\/a>, Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince<\/a> and Ben and Rasheed Wallace, went to six consecutive Eastern Conference finals from 2003-2008.<\/p>\n

They went to back-to-back NBA Finals, winning it all in 2004.<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t just the results that drew Jones in. It was the way the Pistons produced those results.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved the way that they played,\u201d Jones said Friday before the Liberty\u2019s 75-68 win<\/a>. \u201cI feel like it was a very different style for what was really popular back then.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CenterCenter Jonquel Jones of the New York Liberty<\/a> dribbles the ball up court during the second half against the Portland Fire<\/a> at Moda Center on May 12, 2026 in Portland, Oregon. Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> had Kobe Bryant<\/a>. The Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> drafted LeBron James<\/a> in 2004.<\/p>\n

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The Pistons didn\u2019t have an obvious individual superstar. But together, they shined.<\/p>\n

Detroit relied on their chemistry and togetherness.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just felt like the Pistons were, to me they looked like a basketball team through and through,\u201d Jones said. \u201cThey played that way and they all were rewarded for that, like, going to the All-Star game and being able to start the All-Star game with their starters, and I don\u2019t know, just being a really successful team, Eastern Conference Finals, championships, all that stuff and they just played the right way, they moved the ball and they relied on each other and you saw it.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the Liberty\u2019s lineup acting like a revolving door, Jones has gone back to what made that Pistons team she admired when she was a pre-teen.<\/p>\n

\"Chris<\/p>\n

Chris Webber, Richard Hamilton, Chauncey Billups, Tayshaun Prince and Rasheed Wallace of the Detroit Pistons talk during a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game Five of the Eastern Conference Finals during the 2007 NBA Playoffs at the Palace of Auburn Hills on May 31, 2007 in Auburn Hills, Michigan. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Sabrina Ionescu<\/a> is set to miss her third consecutive game \u2014 second with back soreness<\/a>. That leaves Pauline Astier as the team\u2019s only true point guard. But there are plenty of other players who can handle the facilitating responsibilities, including Jones.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s just my game,\u201d Jones said after tallying four assists in back-to-back games. \u201cI\u2019m the type of player, I see two or I see teammates open, I just want to move the ball because that\u2019s just the type of basketball that I love to play. And I grew up being a huge Detroit Pistons fan, watching Rip and Tayshaun and Chauncey, and they played team ball and so that was always the type of basketball that I wanted to play, and I wanted to be a part of so I just try to play the way that I want our team to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones probably embodies more of Rasheed Wallace\u2019s skill set, with her accurate passing and ability to stretch the floor as a big.<\/p>\n

\"JonquelJonquel Jones of the New York Liberty looks on during warmups before their game against the Golden State Valkyries<\/a> at Barclays Center on May 21, 2026 in New York City. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Her favorite player of that Pistons\u2019 era, though, was Hamilton.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI know that probably nobody\u2019s probably ever said that before, but Rip was my favorite,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it was just that whole Pistons team, like, I feel like I could take a little bit of something from everybody. So Chauncey Billups, like, when I was younger I was a guard. Tayshaun, just getting up and down the court, ball handling, obviously just being elite in every level, Rip midrange, Rasheed Wallace tough in the paint. Ben Wallace rebounder. So I feel like you can kind of see aspects of each of those starters in my game now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Liberty might be getting close to having an empty injury report<\/a> but they will need Jones to continue to embrace the Pistons\u2019 blue-collar grit and teamwork for the team to be successful.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen JJ is aggressive, we\u2019re a better team,\u201d coach Chris DeMarco said. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s more than that. Sometimes, there\u2019s other variables throughout the game and maybe she hasn\u2019t touched the ball, maybe defensively sees a couple bad calls, she\u2019s in foul trouble, has to play differently, so sometimes it\u2019s outside things that hurt her, but again, especially third quarter [Wednesday], she made that little run, she\u2019s really aggressive. Ill say it again, she\u2019s been fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jonquel Jones grew up a fan of the Detroit Pistons. Their success during the early 2000s, known as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":747671,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3773],"tags":[7,2298,193,296,188,3860,2955,4705,11597,1536,185,6,3801,297,52082,6696,38711,6209,9413,11596,36357,1015],"class_list":["post-747670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-detroit-pistons","tag-basketball","tag-chauncey-billups","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-detroit","tag-detroit-pistons","tag-detroitpistons","tag-eastern-conference-finals","tag-golden-state-valkyries","tag-jonquel-jones","tag-kobe-bryant","tag-lebron-james","tag-nba","tag-new-york-liberty","tag-pistons","tag-portland-fire","tag-rasheed-wallace","tag-richard-hamilton","tag-sabrina-ionescu","tag-tayshaun-prince","tag-the-liberty","tag-the-los-angeles-lakers","tag-the-pistons"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116661922513828952","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/747671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}